Broken Market

So here we sit, in bed by candle light as the electricity is out. A perfect opportunity for blogging! To our left a generator buzzes and lights blare. To our right a generator buzzes and lights blare. One of the beauties of living somewhere with power outages is to enjoy the quiet darkness. Unfortunately we get all the bad--no hot water, no cooking, no lights--and none of the good--the neighbors are blazing away with loads of noise and light.

Self pity aside, this raises an interesting example of a broken marketplace. Those with money who consume the most electricity have generators so they do not feel the ill effects of the underdeveloped grid and insufficient production capacity. In turn, that means the normal market forces--consumers wanting better service--does not take full effect, as those with the biggest microphones (the rich) do not exert pressure for improvement.

Compounding the problem is that the electrical utility protects certain areas of the city where the richest and most politically influential residents live. If you live in Areas 3, 11, and 12, for example, you experience far fewer outages than in the middle and lower class Malawians neighborhoods.

So, for those of you who are pure market capitalists, I give you Exhibit A in a long list of possible examples where the market fails.

PS As I typed this, the lights came back on. Thought you should know.